Interesting that only 2-3 people have actually weighed in on the original question - which is how much, if any, should growing kids eat. For those of you posting ideas on how to get kids to eat more veggies, it sounds like your assumption is that YES they should eat lots of veggies.

I also find it interesting that so many people assume that if a kid doesn't want veggies with every meal, it must be because they have lazy parents who fed them crap for too long! That seems a bit harsh, and I haven't found it true. It is true that if parents let their kids get away with always refusing to eat anything remotely "scary", of course they will grow up picky (heh, I've watched it with my in-laws) ... but even within my 4 kids I've observed a wide variety of likes and dislikes to certain flavors (that do change over time) and they all get the same meals that we get and have the same rules apply (we use the one-bite rule as well).

Thanks for the input, and I'd love to hear more of the Primal viewpoint -- like whether the RDA suggestions for fruit/vegetable servings seems right, too low, too high.

04-19-2013, 10:46 AM

Neckhammer

[QUOTE=MikkiB;1164477]
Thanks for the input, and I'd love to hear more of the Primal viewpoint -- like whether the RDA suggestions for fruit/vegetable servings seems right, too low, too high.[/QUOTE]

Well I've already laid out my point of view. I don't think you can make the same assumptions about what is optimal for a child that you do for a middle aged adult or an elderly person. They are all in different phases of growth and particularly hormonal profile. Its like telling a 95 year old guy he's got low T and needs to get some testosterone shots just cause his profile isn't the same as an 18 year old powerlifters.

Anyhow IMO vegetables are a supercharged form of hormetic stress. I don't think it's as important for children to ramp this up as it is to just avoid what we can in known environmental toxic stress. I believe there is a legitimate reason children gravitate toward sweet items and avoid the "bitters" early in life. And no, I don't think this is just cause they were not introduced to bitter greens earlier. Bitters are indicative of those hormetic stressors/toxins in that food... as we age it seems our palate expands to actually enjoy this. As a young child not so much.

Thanks for the link! I tried searching yesterday before I posted, but I didn't see that.

I agree with you about the bitter flavors. There's been some interesting research on why more adults still have a sweet tooth and don't lose the "extra" sweet taste buds in their teens as used to be the norm... I will try to find it this weekend.

04-19-2013, 12:20 PM

Urban Forager

[QUOTE=MikkiB;1164550]Thanks for the link! I tried searching yesterday before I posted, but I didn't see that.

I agree with you about the bitter flavors. There's been some interesting research on why more adults still have a sweet tooth and don't lose the "extra" sweet taste buds in their teens as used to be the norm... I will try to find it this weekend.[/QUOTE]

I hope you can find the research you mentioned I for one would be very interested in reading it.

04-19-2013, 02:30 PM

MikkiB

The general theme is that children have more taste buds than adults (in fact, are born with taste buds all over the mouth, not just on the tongue). Adults have from 2000-10000 taste buds, and the more taste buds you have the more intense any flavor will be. That's why children are more "turned off" by bitter flavors, because the bitterness is much stronger to them than to us.

In adults, the more taste buds you have the stronger any given flavor seems ,so those who lose the most taste buds may be those who like stronger/sweeter flavors, or who eat more to be "flavor satisfied".

I'm still looking for the one I remember about different flavor profiles in adults vs children, but here are some interesting articles that I found -

Flavors make it into the amniotic fluid that babies drink starting from 21 weeks after conception, and flavors tasted in utero are preferred by children later in life -[URL="http://www.npr.org/2011/08/08/139033757/babys-palate-and-food-memories-shaped-before-birth"]http://www.npr.org/2011/08/08/139033757/babys-palate-and-food-memories-shaped-before-birth[/URL]

The window of opportunity for shaping kids' flavor preferences starts in utero and ends 3-4 months after birth!
[url=http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Science/Shaping-flavor-preference-starts-in-the-womb-and-ends-at-about-three-months-says-Monell-expert]Shaping flavor preference starts in the womb[/url]

Obese children are less sensitive to taste than normal weight children
[url=http://adc.bmj.com/content/97/12/1048.abstract?sid=772bdd59-4efb-4ec2-b01b-9e44d7087531]Differences in taste sensitivity between obese and non-obese children and adolescents -- Overberg et al. 97 (12): 1048 -- Archives of Disease in Childhood[/url]

04-19-2013, 02:50 PM

Dragonfly

[QUOTE]The window of opportunity for shaping kids' flavor preferences starts in utero and ends 3-4 months after birth![/QUOTE]
This. I love liver, salmon and other nutrient-dense foods that my mother ate when she was pregnant with me. Fresh veggies were not cheap in London (where she lived), so she didn't eat many--and given the [I]relative[/I] low nutrient-density of most vegetables, I am very glad I don't have much desire to eat them, lol!